Yeah. I'm back from San Francisco and Macworld Expo. Didn't really see much that excited me -- even the new Apple products were not particularly innovative, although I'm considering a 1 GB iPod Shuffle. I was there basically for two days, and on the second day I played hooky from the Expo and went for a walk down the Embarcadero. San Francisco's a beautiful city, and the weather was sunny and clear. Unfortunately I neglected to bring my good camera, but I did bring my new little Casio, so you may see a few photos from that trip soon.

Was good seeing folks I hadn't seen in a long time... shout-outs to Rich and Patrick from Bare Bones (it was my first time meeting Patrick in person) and also Victor Siegle from Management Software. Used to do documentation for both those companies. And of course, all the SmartFriends.

A bit of wisdom from the trip: Don't let coins, such as dimes, fall into the CompactFlash slot of your PDA. It probably won't care much for that.

Re: back from Macworld

There are 4 messages in this thread, displayed in the order they were posted.

Jaddie 1/14/2005 7:10:53 AM Pacific

You didn't find the Mac mini exciting?
I'm very excited by its looks (size), price, and for what it may do for the Mac's market share.

Jerry Kindall

1/14/2005 8:45:57 AM Pacific

The Mac Mini is cute, but I doubt it'll do much for Apple's marketshare. After all, you can get a Dell PC with an LCD monitor for the same price, and it's easier (and cheaper) to add memory and disk upgrades to the Dell. Upgrade the Mac Mini at all and it's cheaper to buy an eMac, plus you get a monitor -- and the eMac hasn't exactly set the world on fire.
I see the Mac Mini as a machine that all the Mac-heads will buy for their moms. I'm considering one for my mom. (However, this won't do anything for marketshare -- because my mom's using a tangerine iMac.) This will take 3-6 months and then I predict sales will quickly fall off.
I expect to see some cool applications (people are already talking about installing it in cars, although I expect it'll need some extra ventilation for that) but these specialty applications won't make a major blip in marketshare.

BrainDan

1/14/2005 1:18:16 PM Pacific

Seems like the Mac mini is targetted towards people who already have a keyboard, mouse and monitor, don't have a Mac, and might take the plunge if it weren't for the price. Seems like there are enough of those to make a difference, especially with the popularity of iPods with Windows users.
My employer allows (but does not offer or support) Macs at work, if and only if the employee buys the Mac and only uses it on the company network (on site or via VPN). Lots of Mac fans here would love a Mac at work, but cannot justify spending $1000+ of their own money on dedicated hardware. I think $500 is a different story for a lot of us, and I'm seriously considering it.
Perhaps none of these are major markets, but it seems like it could add up. There's something about its size (and price) that implies it can be used for all kinds of things beyond desktop computing; it'll be a few months before I can tell if that's a silly idea or not. Probably silly. (Mini ATX hasn't revoluntionized anything yet, has it?)

Gordon Hawley

1/19/2005 7:33:07 AM Pacific

It's sad really. Once again Apple drops the ball with the specs for a new machine. The Mac Mini could have been so much more for just a little more $$$.

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Re: back from Macworld